SO FAR by Guile Branco How We Ended Up Shooting at Sunset on Point Dume State Beach Day one was upon us, and after successfully finalizing some very complex boat scenes a mile off the coast of Marina Del Rey, what could go wrong? After all, I had just swam out in the open sea with a GoPro attached to my forehead despite warnings that sharks roamed on those waters. I was finally on land, all my limbs attached and well - and after puking from sea sickness I was ready to move on - onwards we had on schedule our next scene and that one has proven to be our most complicated. The opening of the film had called for two villains shooting machine guns at a beach. Sounds simple? Well, the number one problem was our tight budget meant we had no permits. No permits meant the shoot was illegal. Problem two, I had with me an M60 machine gun replica - if you don't know what it means, that is the machine gun RAMBO used to shoot helicopters and hoards of soldiers, it's damn huge and heavy. I could see the worry in my directors face - Gui Pereira was very concerned. We were all very aware of people being arrested, innocent filmmakers being framed as terrorists. I wouldn't blame anyone for calling the police upon seeing what appears to be maniacs out in the open with guns. I had in mind this location in Malibu and the moment we arrived we instantly knew it wouldn't work. The freeway was right next to us. Our problem number three was that it was almost sunset, and if we couldn't get that scene in the can, the whole sequence would be transferred to animation. One of our actors suggested Point Dume - and off we go, there's no time to waste. Well we got there and couldn't find parking. Seriously. It was 5pm, on a Thursday and all spots were taken. We wasted another 30 min circling around and I kept watching the sun as it traveled down. At this point I am almost giving up - animation it is. Art Kulik, our villain along with Lou D'Amato shouts out: "There's got to be parking near the beach, down the rocks" - I didn't believe him but at this point I'm going with the flow. Our convoy drives down to Point Dume, which basically is a scenic pile of rocks and that's when I remembered that there is a secluded beach down there and if we can find parking, that's our last resort. We did find parking. Rushing out of our cars I had the guns wrapped in plastic garbage bags to hide them. We had to run towards the rocks and do some climbing to get to the beach. Problem four... a POLICE car parked right there, on the sand, in front of us. Trust me, if you saw an M60 machine gun wrapped in black plastic garbage bags, you would say that's exactly what I am hiding, a giant weapon of mass destruction. I stood there in a daze. The sun was almost at the horizon. Suddenly as I stare at defeat they drive away, just like that. I scream: lets go!!! Art and myself grab the guns and dash toward the rocks. The director/DP Gui Pereira follows behind. We climb the rocks up and down. Art is in front of me, he suddenly turns and says: "we can't do it, there are people at the beach." I looked and there were about 15 people ready to watch the sunset. I told Art: "hold on" and gave him the huge M60. I approached every single person on that beach and said: " Hello, I am a filmmaker and we are about to shoot a scene with fake guns. If you are NOT okay with this we will not do it" To my surprise - or not - every single person was super excited about the shoot, we became instant celebrities. They took pictures of us - some had traveled from Turkey and couldn't believe they were watching some "Hollywood magic" We shot the scene during sunset - which wasn't planned. If it weren't for all the obstacles the scene would have been shot with normal daylight. BUT NO, now we have the most amazing sunset footage! It all works! I hope you enjoy watching So Far!
(August, 2016 -- Los Angeles, CA) So Far is the graphic story of the main character Malone (Guile Branco) and his intense battle with his violent, deadly pursuers.
Displayed in both traditional action-adventure cinematic form, along with with highly stylized animation, and backed by Guile Branco's own strong-tempo music, So Far asks the question "When you realize you've gone SO FAR and there's no turning back, are you ready to face your fears?"
So Far is an action packed short film/music video produced by Guile Branco, directed by Gui Pereira with animation by Nic Raith. Guile and Gui are both huge action movie fans from Brazil, and have now been residing beautiful Los Angeles for many years.
Writer - producer Guile Branco remarks: "When I first came up with the idea of So Far I knew I wanted to go way beyond a simple video music concept, I wanted to take it to the next level, and to be an experience! As a fan of action movies since childhood I wanted it to be a roller coaster ride! So Far incorporates animation to help make the storytelling method more contemporary, and also makes the film that much more visually stimulating, interesting, and memorable.
. . . I kept imagining these amazing action scenes . . .
I'm really proud of it, and I want everyone to see it!"
Director Gui Pereira's interest in cinema goes back to before he was even a year old! Gui has continually widened his horizons, at fourteen he directed music videos for his friends, at sixteen he enrolled a summer camp at the New York Film Academy.
Director Gui Pereira on set with Guile Branco
While in college Gui got a job as a writer for the tv show Take Unico for the Brazilian All-TV network, and most recently he graduated from the Los Angeles Film School, then from the Art Institute of California.
On their current collaboration, So Far Gui notes:
"I've been working with Guile Branco for about six years now and I must say that he's the Johnny Depp to my Tim Burton. I truly trust him as an actor and I have the best actor-director relationship with him! It's always a pleasure working with Guile. I have to admit that when he pitched me the idea for So Far all I could think was: 'The guy has lost his mind!' Explosions, Ninjas, Car Chases! All of that with no budget at all! But I was up for the challenge! I trusted him and he had put together the best cast I could think of. We shot the entire film in just three days, and everyone gave their heart and soul. Guile is one of the best human beings alive, and his energy can get anything done. So Far is a proof of it!" He and Guile Branco have worked together on many projects over the last few years, including the multiple-award winning The Adventures of Sheriff Kid McLain, and Pizza Me, Mafia, with Brazilian tv star Tom Cavalcante, which premiered in the Paramount Theater, the largest theater on the Paramount lot.
Actor Lou D'Amato
Lou D'Amato is an american actor of Italian descent and Co-Stars with Guile inSo Far.. While studying acting at HB Studios in NY, he was fortunate to be accepted in the late Jill Clayburgh's master class "Working on/off camera". Lou learned so much with Jill he asked her if she would continue coaching him after the class ended and she graciously accepted. Lou is also a great admirer of Clint Eastwood both in front and behind the camera. Today Lou looks for scripts that encompass originality, something he says seems harder to find these days. Lou Co-Stars with Guile Branco in Guile's So Far. On working with Guile in the project Lou notes: "Guile proves over and over how talented and committed he is to his work and his passion. So Far is a project that started in Guile’s mind over 20 years ago and it entails very personal aspects of his life from when he was young to today. Before Guile came to America, he not only loved stage and screen, but also was born with natural talents such as drawing/illustration and music. Recently Guile has been going back to his roots by writing and developing songs one of which is called So Far. When he was listening to the track at the studio, it was then he imagined that dream of his creating an action drama, but as Guile does, with a twist. He was able to incorporate his song, his illustrating prowess along with a perfect action hero story. This story is complete with car chases, machine guns, ninja’s and bi-planes oh yeah and torture.
Lou in Center with Director Gui Pereira, left and Guile Branco, right
Watching how excited he got each time he would put pencil to paper to create his animated characters all while visualizing his story along with the music in his head was special.
I’m so honored to be a part of this project and look forward to working with him on the next two projects (the prequel and sequel) which by the way, he already has it all in his head! He just needs to get that ole pencil out and start creating the magic that he does so well . . . "
Animator Nic Raith talks about what it was like working with Guile Branco on So Far:
"Collaborating with Guile to produce the animation portion of So Far was so much fun. It was a pleasure bringing his vision to life and being able to creatively express myself. The same goes for the fellow artists that helped us bring the animation alive and really made it their own. While animating we listened to a ton of New Wave music for inspiration and used retro album covers for reference. Our two biggest influences for the project were Duran Duran Album Covers and the Turbo Kid Movie. The trickiest part of the animation is the live action that cuts to the animation. We took screen grabs of the live action and drew them as animation. Getting the timing right for these shots was rough!"
So Far Car Chase
The So Far car chases were shot in beautiful Latigo Canyon, Malibu, known for its breathtaking views of Point Dume State Beach. The beach scenes in So Far were shot on the Point Dume State Beach, where scenes from many well known film and television projects were also shot, including the ending of the original Planet of the Apes, scenes in the Iron Man films, How I Met Your Mother, Angel, Modern Family, Scorpion, and even the original I Dream of Jeannie.
So Far has also been submitted for consideration to a number of festivals taking place later this year.
Announcements about festival selections and screening dates / times will be announced soon.
Guile Branco also stars in the upcoming Athena, an action sci-fi short written and directed by Andrew Kadikian.
So Far is available as a single, and Guile also has two other completed singles available on iTunes: My Love Remains, and Holy Girl.
Hello from Steve Thompson / Thompson Communications!
Producer Guile Branco, Director Gui Pereira, and Actor Lou D'Amato have all offered their thoughts on the soon to be released So Far.
Now it's your turn! We would love to know what you think of the trailer, just e-mail me at steve@cinemanewswire.com
So Far is the graphic story of the main character Malone(Guile Branco) and his intense battle with his violent, deadly pursuers. Displayed in both traditional action-adventure cinematic form, along with with highly stylized animation, backed by Guile Branco's own strong-tempo music, So Far asks the question "When you realize you've gone SO FAR and there's no turning back, are you ready to face your fears?"
Producer Guile Branco:
"When I first came up with the idea of So Far I knew I wanted to go way beyond a simple video music concept, I wanted to take it to the next level, and to be an experience! As a fan of action movies since childhood I wanted it to be a roller coaster ride!
. . . I kept imagining these amazing action scenes . . . "
"Guile proves over and over how talented and committed he is to his work and his passion. So Far is a project that started in Guile’s mind over 20 years ago and it entails very personal aspects of his life from when he was young to today."
So Far is scheduled to be released online on VEVO and YOUTUBE on June 17th. It has also been submitted for consideration to a number of festivals taking place later this year.
